Remember The Monsters?
by ImagineDragonov
Summary: AU The apocalypse has arrived and wiped out all but a few. Percy and friends are living in a hotel, fighting the infected and hoping to find a cure. Percy has almost lost hope until new survivors begin finding there way to the hotel and the group receives and urgent call from friends at Jupiter's Bar.
1. Chapter 1

**HOME SWEET HOME**

**PERCY**

I woke up like I usually do nowadays. To the sound of someone screaming. Ever since the apocalypse started, it's not uncommon to hear someone screaming in pain during all hours of the night. This time it wasn't a random victim's voice but one of my own. I jumped out of bed and sprinted down the hall to the source of the voice. Silena's room. I rushed in to find her sobbing into her boyfriend, Beckendorf's shirt. Silena Beauregard, one of my closest friends, has been having nightmares since we first lost one of our own to the flesh eaters. I remember the day to well. My group was out on a raid. Connor and Travis Stoll decided to meet us back at my apartment after the picked up some supplies. They met us a few hours later but they were no longer our friends Connor and Travis. Nico and I were forced to put down our friends. Sadly, that's the way our world works now. We scavenge, head back to my apartment, and hopelessly search for a cure. We don't know much about them; except that once you get bitten by one, two things can happen. You can escape and turn into one of them or you can have your skin ripped off your body by the things. If you get bitten then your life is over.

"It's okay, Silena. It's just a nightmare." Beckendorf whispered to his girlfriend. I walked to Silena's side of the bed and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"I know, but when are they going to stop?" Silena asked with a tear stricken face.

"I don't know. You just need time that's all. We'll get through it. We'll find a cure and save everyone. That's our mission right?" I said. She wiped away our tears.

"Yea, that's our mission." She said in Beckendorf's arms. I looked at my watch.

"It's six in the morning anyway, why don't we just head down stairs?" I suggested. They both nodded wordlessly. We made our way through the hallway and down the stairs.

When the apocalypse hit we realized that no one would need their rooms anymore so we raided and boarded up all the rooms except for mine which we turned into a luxury headquarters with all the supplies. The Stoll brothers really helped with their "everything is free now, we can live like kings" outlook on it so we do live like kings except for the part where we are always hunted by flesh eating humanoids. My apartment is where we all live and sleep. It's the biggest room on the top floor, usually meant for important guests, we have ten bedrooms, three bathrooms, a small kitchen, a computer/research area, a living room, and of course an armory. We had to do a little bit of expanding, but Beckendorf is really good with that kind of stuff. Our headquarters looks amazing.

They main kitchen and dining area is on the bottom floor and one of the few areas that we have open. We keep as much rooms off limits as possible. We have to constantly be on alert. The dining area has an amazing kitchen where Grover and Juniper cook our meals. It has one large table that we use for meetings and eating and it has a bar built into the kitchen.

The other two areas we keep open are the room adjacent to our headquarters and the roof. The room next to our headquarters is the medical room. Will Solace was the son of a famous doctor and has almost magical powers when it comes to healing people. The roof has my favorite attraction, the swimming pool, and it also serves as our last resort escape route. We have a zip line leading to another building about a block away which contains fully fueled cars for our escape. We never use cars of guns when we go on raids. Guns are too noisy and attract them. Gasoline is like the best smell in the world to them. They will find you if you use them.

One of the "flesh eaters" as we call them, is not a problem. They only can walk around and are basically falling apart but in a group they are deadly. I'm not sure which would be worse, watching your friends get eaten alive or being eaten alive.

Silena, Beckendorf and I walked through the doors to the dining room and took a seat. I sit at the head of the table because I'm kind of the leader here. My cousin, Nico DiAngelo, is like the second in command and he sits at the other end.

"So, what's the plan for today, Percy?" Beckendorf asked. I looked at my friend.

"I don't know. We have plenty of supplies, so I'm not risking another run. I think we should just stay in today and relax for a change. We all need it." I said and looked at Silena.

"I'm fine, Percy. Really, I am." Silena said. Just then, Grover and Juniper walked through the doors.

"What are you guys doing up so early?" Juniper asked.

"We just came down to start breakfast early." Grover added. Grover and Juniper have been together long before the apocalypse started. Grover is my best friend and it's my job to make sure he doesn't lose Juniper. I laughed.

"We usually eat at nine." I said. "It's like six thirty." Grover looked at Juniper sympathetically. I understood what was going on. "Juniper's having nightmares too." Grover nodded and Juniper looked at the ground. I sighed. "I'm sorry. I should have sent someone with them. I miss them too."

"It's alright, Perce. There's nothing you could do. They made a decision. It's not your fault." Grover said. Will walked through the doors with a bright face like the time didn't affect him at all.

"Morning everyone." Will said happily.

"We're just missing Nico from the six am club." Beckendorf said.

"Nico will probably sleep till lunch. We should just eat when Grover and Juniper are done." I said. Grover and Juniper got busy making some of their famous food. They somehow manage to make luxury meals with the large garden they have on the roof. I took this time to look at all my friends and how we've stayed alive this long. We've all been friends since before the apocalypse began. We all attended a camp called Camp Half-Blood and every summer we would come back and have the time of our lives, of course, until this summer. We are all the same age, sixteen. Everyone brings something different to the table.

Grover Underwood has been my best friend since we were five. He has curly brown hair, brown eyes, and a wispy beard. He's kind of scrawny but brings a lot to the table. Grover is not a fighter but him and Juniper are basically five star chefs. The food they make is magical.

I've known Juniper Underwood since the first time Grover mentioned her. We gave them an unofficial wedding because they are perfect for each other and wanted to be married before they die. Juniper is short with brown hair and green eyes. She is more health conscious than Grover with the food she makes but I'm not complaining.

Will Solace really lights up a room with his golden hair and blue eyes. I've known Will the shortest amount of time but he's still a great friend. Silena once broke her ankle on a raid while running. Will had her walking in a few weeks.

Charles Beckendorf is a built black guy who is kinder than anyone I've ever met. He and Silena are amazing together and I protect them like family. Beckendorf is amazing with all the things we need. He basically built our headquarters and keeps the power running at the hotel. We have hot water, clean drinking water, and a refreshing swimming pool all thanks to Beck.

Silena Beauregard has dark hair and blue eyes. She stunningly beautiful and she mainly deals with surveillance. We have security cameras set up around the hotel that feed footage to our computers in the headquarters. Silena makes sure that nothing gets in.

My cousin Nico DiAngelo has dark hair, dark eyes, and pale skin. He's wears all black all the time but I don't know what I would do without him. He's the only family I have left after my family died. Nico and I are the leaders here and we make sure that we survive.

Nico suddenly barged into the dining hall with a frantic look on his face. His eyes landed on me and he announced to the group.

"There are people outside." Nico said.

"There are always people outside. They want to eat you Nico." Grover said. Nico shook his head.

"No, I mean, there are people outside. People who don't eat meat. Well, actually, they probably do unless they're vegetarians like Juniper. Gross, by the way."

"Hey, it's a healthy life style. You should try it Nico." Juniper said.

"Absolutely not."

"Guys!" I interrupted. Everyone looked at me. "Are there really people out there?" Nico got serious.

"Yea, a guy and two girls." Nico said.

"Why do you seem upset about that?" I asked. Nico looked at me.

"They're surrounded."


	2. Chapter 2

**THE MESSAGE**

**ANNABETH**

"I can't go on any further. We've been walking for two days straight." Thalia complained and leaned on Luke for help. Luke has always been the brother that I wish I had and Thalia is the sister I never got. We've been through everything since day one of the apocalypse and it looks like the end.

"Thalia, we have to keep going. We'll die out here." I urged. I looked to Luke for support. He gave me none. Luke has always been our rock and I've never seen him so drained. Luke and Thalia stopped and lay down. Thalia lying on her boyfriend's chest. I looked at our surroundings. We were in the middle of Manhattan and all around us were towering buildings. Then I noticed something that made my blood run cold. About 100 yards away was an army of flesh eating freaks. There was at least fifty all walking towards us. I looked behind me only to see the same thing. We were trapped.

"I think this is it." Luke said. "I love you guys."

"I love you too, Luke." Thalia said.

"Stop saying your goodbyes." I commanded. "We can't just give up." Thalia and Luke just continued to stay in each other's arms. I realized that I was going to die and I was scared. I started sobbing as the infected were only ten yards away. I dropped the knife I was holding and fell to my knees has tears streamed down my face. The closest one walked right up to me and reached out to grab me. I didn't have the energy to fight. Suddenly, an arrow pierced through zombie's head and more heads dropped by the slice of a sword. My vision blurred and the last thing I saw was a pair of sea green eyes shimmering with worry.

I woke up next to an unconscious Thalia and Luke on what appeared to be a dentist's chair. A man with blonde hair walked into the room and noticed that I was awake.

"Sleep well?" He asked. I stared at him confused.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I could ask you the same question."

"My name's Annabeth Chase." I told him.

"My name's Will Solace." He said. "What are your friends' names?"

"The girl with spiky hair is Thalia Grace and the boy is Luke Castellan."

"Grace? Castellan?" He seemed surprised by the names.

"Yea, why?" I asked. Will grabbed a clipboard with some medical papers on it. He seemed like he really knew what he was doing.

"Is Thalia related to a Jason Grace in anyway?" Will asked. That surprised me.

"Yes, that's Thalia's long lost brother. They've been apart since they were kids. She's going to be so excited to see him."

"Oh, he's not here."

"Then why did you ask?"

"Percy and Jason are really good friends. Percy has been looking for him for a long time." Will started searching for something on a laptop.

"How do you have a working laptop?" I asked. He smiled.

"Our group here is pretty good at what we do."

"This Percy guy is he your leader or something?"

"You could say that." He said while staring at the screen of the laptop. "Ah, here we go your medical records. You're all sixteen. That's a happy coincidence."

"Why is that a coincidence and why do you need our medical records."

"It's a coincidence because everyone here is the same age, sixteen, and I need you medical records for two reasons."

"That's cool. What are the two reasons?"

"One, I need to know you blood type and stuff in case you get hurt and two, I wanted to check if the Stoll brothers were related to Mr. Castellan and they are."

"Luke will be happy about that." Will looked at me with the same look as before.

"Seriously, stop bringing them up if they're not here." Will got a sad look on his face.

"They were here a few days ago but a raid went wrong."

"I'm sorry." I said.

"It's okay. It just hit us hard. They were the first one's we lost."

"We've all lost people. I know how you feel." Thalia and Luke arose from they're chairs.

"Annabeth, why don't you head across the hall and find Percy. He can show you where to shower and stuff. I'll fill your friends in." Will said.

"You have showers here?" Thalia screamed. I bolted out of the room in hopes of taking a long overdue shower. In the hallway, I noticed that all the rooms were boarded up except for the one room directly across. I knocked on the door and a girl with black hair answered it.

"Hello, I'm Silena." The girl said.

"I'm Annabeth." I told her.

"Let me guess. You're in desperate need of a shower?"

"Please."

"Right this way. I'll get you some of my clothes to change into."

"Thank you." I walked into the room to find a zombie apocalypse wonderland. To my right was a miniature laboratory with about ten computers and papers laying around. There were a few large monitors on the wall showing images from security cameras outside. To my left was a comfortable living room with a television and a few large couches. A large guy gave me a friendly wave from the couch and was obviously watching a movie. Attached to the back of the living room was a small kitchen loaded with food. Directly in front of me was a large hallway with about six doors on each side and one directly at the end of the hall way. All the doors had a name on them. I read Grover and Juniper, Beckendorf and Silena, Will, and Nico. There were two rooms labeled showers and two empty rooms. The room at the end of the hall was labeled Percy. I got curious and cracked open the door to see the insides. It was a large bedroom except for an office area sticking out of one side and a personal bathroom on the other. The door to the study was open and I could see the guy with beautiful sea green eyes staring at a computer screen.

"So, you must be one of the new recruits." Percy said jokingly without looking up from the computer. How did he know I was there? "When you live in a world like this, you have to learn to listen for intruders."

"Sorry, I just got curious." I said.

"It's fine. My room's no more special than the others."

"Except for the personal bathroom and study."

"I was here first."

"Wow you're so mature."

"Don't you forget it." I laughed.

"I'm Annabeth."

"Percy. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm starving. You want to get something to eat."

"Do you have enough?" I asked. Percy laughed.

"You're going to like it here."

"So, that means we can stay?"

"Of course."

"I'm actually going to take a shower first. I look disgusting."

"I think you look beautiful in an apocalypse survivor kind of way."

"Thanks?"

"Anyway, just come down to the first floor when you're done. You'll find it. It's one of four doors that aren't barricaded."

"Thanks Percy."

"See you later." Percy walked out of the room. I stepped out into the hallway and headed to the bathroom where I took the most refreshing shower of my life. When I got out I saw that Silena was watching a movie with the large guy from before who I now assumed was Beckendorf. The movie ended as I reached the living room.

"Annabeth, how hungry are you?" Silena asked me.

"Extremely."

"It's six o'clock. Grover and Juniper probably have something ready by now. Let's go." Beckendorf said. We walked down a few flights of stairs to the dining room. I wasn't used to this kind of luxury since the apocalypse began. I took a seat next to Silena at the large table. Percy was seated at the head as expected. Luke and Thalia walked in and sat on the other side of me.

"How amazing is it here?" Thalia asked.

"It's so great." I said. "We really got lucky." Percy cleared his throat.

"I would just like to welcome Thalia Grace, Luke Castellan, and Annabeth Chase to our humble abode. Welcome to the family." Percy announced. There was a round of cheers from everyone at the table. Grover and Juniper put trays of some of the most mouthwatering food I've ever seen out on the table.

"How do you even have this?" Luke asked.

"We go on raids for all our supplies and Juniper grows most of the food on the roof." Percy explained.

"That sweet you guys have, how come it's the only one open?" Thalia asked.

"We like to keep tabs on everyone. It's kind of our headquarters. When we first got here, we all slept in one room together anyway. It's just more…secure."

"So, you got rooms for us?" Thalia asked.

"We have two available rooms so you have to share. There's a male and female bathroom and you saw the rest of the sweet. We can have whatever we want."

"I learned about the bathrooms the hard way." Thalia said.

"Yea, I should probably label those. What happened?"

"Nico walked in on me."

"Nico! Nice!" Will said before Nico punched him in the stomach. Luke's face twisted into one of anger and jealousy. It scared me for a second. Suddenly, there was a buzzing sound that a phone would make. Percy pulled out his phone like it was the most foreign thing he had ever seen. Everyone went completely silent. Percy placed the phone on the table and put it on speaker.

"Hello?" Percy asked.

"Hey, Percy, is that you?" The voice asked. Percy eyes got misty for a second.

"Jason! You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice." Percy said.

"Thank the gods. It's great to hear you too Perce." Jason said.

"Where are you?"

"Jupiter's Bar."

"Is anyone there with you? Is Piper there?"

"Yea Piper's here and a few others, but Percy…"

"What is it Jason?"

"…we need your help."


	3. Chapter 3

**JUPITER'S BAR**

**PERCY**

"For those of you who don't know that was one of my closest friends, Jason Grace." I announced to everyone after the conversation ended. "They have a group hiding in Jupiter's Bar and we are going to help them."

"Did you say Jason Grace?" Thalia asked.

"Yea, so?"

"My name's Thalia Grace. You announced it to everyone like five minutes ago. Jason's my long lost brother."

"Oh yea, how didn't I put that together?"

"Maybe because your head is filled with seaweed." Annabeth suggested. I faked a laugh.

"Cute. Anyway, we're going to save them. Any questions?"

"Yea, who made you leader?" Luke asked.

"I've been the leader. I understand you're new here but we have been surviving well because we have rules and jobs we get done. I suggest you follow them. You wouldn't like the consequences." I threatened.

"You're all fine with blindly following this guy?" Luke asked my friends. Beckendorf looked like he was about to kill Luke.

"Percy is family and he has saved all our lives at one point or another." Beckendorf said. "He saved yours too. I hope you remember that."

"What if I don't follow your rules?" Luke asked tauntingly.

"I'm not ruling anyone or anything. We're family here. We make decisions together but Jason is my friend and we're going to save him." I said. "If you don't like it here, you can keep limping down the street until you run into another horde of those things."

"I'm not doing anything you say. You're not my leader."

"Luke, what are you doing?" Thalia asked.

"If you don't want to help us or at the least show us some respect then you can leave." I told him. "It's that simple." Luke stood up to leave.

"Thalia! Annabeth! Come on! We're leaving." Annabeth and Thalia didn't move.

"I don't think they want to leave Luke. They're being smart." Nico said. Luke stormed over to Nico and got right in his face.

"First, you spy on my girlfriend and then you tell me that I'm not smart." Luke said. "You have a death wish." Luke punched Nico across the face. Nico spit blood onto the floor and gave Luke a haunting glare. Nico punched Luke with more force sending him to the floor. Luke stood up to hit Nico again but I intercepted him. I pushed him into Beckendorf who was standing at my side.

"Lock him in the basement until he calms down." I commanded.

"Try something, you ugly…" Luke's sentence was cut off by Beckendorf's strong punch to the face rendering him unconscious." Beckendorf dragged Luke out of the room. I turned to face Thalia.

"You should get your boyfriend under control." I told her.

"I'm sorry. He's never like that. He's really a nice guy." Thalia said and Annabeth nodded in agreement when I looked at her.

"Somehow, I doubt that." Nico said and spit up more blood.

"We should focus on finding my friend and your brother." I told Thalia. "Jupiter's Bar is only about three miles from here. Jason and Thalia's dad, Jupiter, owns the bar. We used to hang out there a lot. I know how we can get them out."

"Okay, what's the plan?" Annabeth asked.

"This is more of a stealth mission. We will go in with a small group." I said to the room. Grover and Juniper will stay here as usual to tend to the plants and such. Silena, you're on surveillance as usual except you and I are going to stay in constant contact. Will, you are staying here too. We can't risk Will, Grover and Juniper." Everyone nodded in agreement at their jobs. "Normally, we would have Nico, Beckendorf and I go on the raids but Beckendorf needs to stay and keep an eye on Luke. Thalia and Annabeth, you can help Silena with surveillance." The two girls looked at me incredulously.

"He's my brother. I'm going." Thalia said.

"You can't leave me out of the fight." Annabeth agreed.

"Fine. Annabeth, Thalia, Nico and I are going. Meet at the front door in five minutes." I told everyone and went to prepare. I grabbed my trusted bronze sword, Riptide, and an earpiece to communicate with Silena. I dressed up in dark jeans and a black t-shirt to remain hidden. Nico and I met at the front door at the same time. Nico had his usual steel sword at his side and typical black attire. Nico was wearing a backpack which contained everything we would need for the plan, backup plan, and backup plan to the backup plan. Annabeth and Thalia joined us a few minutes later. They were both wearing bright shirts and had guns in hand.

"You guys ready?" Annabeth asked.

"Are you?" Nico replied.

"What do you mean?"

"You guys are breaking about every survival rule there is right now." I told them. Annabeth looked surprised like she wasn't used to being wrong.

"Like what?" Thalia asked.

"They're attracted to light. No bright colors." I pointed to their shirts.

"They're attracted to sound. No loud noises." Nico said and pointed to their guns.

"Swords and bows are the best bet. Trust me on this." I told them. They nodded in understanding and went to change. They returned a few minutes later in matching black clothing. Annabeth was wielding a bronze dagger and Thalia was holding a bow.

"Perfect." Nico said with a rare smile. I opened the door for my new friends.

"Ladies first." I said sarcastically.

"What a gentlemen." Annabeth replied equally sarcastic. Thalia punched me while walking out. We all stood in front of the hotel.

"So, are we going to walk there?" Annabeth asked.

"Nope." I replied and walked into an alley next to the building. I emerged with four bikes. Green, Gray, Black, and Blue for each of us. We wordlessly jumped on the bikes and made our way to Jupiter's. I stopped about 100 yards from the bar and my friends followed my example. Down a hill, trying to break into the bar was a horde of zombies banging on the glass windows. I could see cracks forming with each hit.

"What now?" Nico asked me.

"We need a diversion." I said.

"Leave that to me." Nico pulled something out of his backpack. He hopped on his black bike and taped an air horn to the handle bars. "Wish me luck." Nico made the horn sound and taped it so it was constantly making sound. Nico drove down the hill and right past the zombies standing at the window. All but a few followed Nico hopelessly into the night.

"Come on." I said. Thalia, Annabeth and I rode down the hill and beheaded the remaining zombies. Jason's group opened the front doors and we walked into Jupiter's bar. Jason and Piper stood next to each other at the entrance. "Jason, Pipes, it's so good to see you guys." I hugged my two friends. Piper was getting emotional at the reunion. Thalia stepped forward and hugged Jason. Piper's eyes burned with jealousy but I gave her a look saying to calm down which she returned with a look of confusion.

"Jason, I'm your sister, Thalia." Thalia said. A look of realization crossed Jason's face and he hugged Thalia back. Piper looked shocked by the development. I now noticed that Silena hadn't said a word during the entire mission. I tapped on the ear piece.

"Silena, can you hear me?" I asked. I only received static. Silena always answers. Always. I turned to Jason. "Something's wrong. We need to get you guys out of here. How many?"

"We have eight but there's a problem." Jason said.

"What kind of problem?" I asked.

"Gwen is hurt and Dakota is too drunk to move."

"I'm sorry. I could've sworn you just said that someone was drunk when we are trying to save their lives!"

"I'm sorry but we can't just leave them."

"I know. You're right. Where are they?" Jason pointed me to a back room. I walked through the doors to see an infected girl devouring a guy passed out on the floor. I closed the doors before either of them noticed me. "Jason?"

"Yea?" Jason responded.

"Did Gwen's injury happen to be, oh I don't know, a bite from a zombie?"

"Yea, it was."

"I'm not sure how much you know but when someone gets bitten by a zombie they turn into a zombie. Come on man, that's classic horror movie 101 right there."

"Oh no, poor Gwen." Piper said.

"I think you mean poor Dakota. You laid him down right next to a flesh eating freak." I said.

"Is he…" Jason asked.

"Yea, I'm afraid he is. We need to get going now. Where are the others?" I asked. Just then two girls and a Hispanic guy came in carrying a moaning Asian guy with serious burn marks.

"What happened?" Jason asked.

"Leo accidently burned him." A girl with dark hair said.

"Eating and burning each other? What kind of base do you have going here, Jason?"

"This is Leo…" He pointed towards the Hispanic guy. "…Frank is the guy who got burned, Reyna is the scary girl with dark hair, and Hazel is the other one." Jason said.

"I am not scary." Reyna said. "And what do you mean by eating each other?"

"I'm really sorry but your friends Dakota and Gwen are dead and we have to leave." I told them. They looked devastated and scared. "We have someone who can patch everyone up but we need to go right now." Everyone followed me as we left the bar. I pulled Annabeth to the side. "Do you know how to get back?" I asked her. She nodded confused. "Lead them back there. I'm going to find Nico."

"No, you can't go out by yourself. I'll come with you." She said.

"No, go with them. I'll be fine. I promise." She didn't look like she believed me and I could see tears gather in her eyes. Suddenly, she leaned in and kissed me. She pulled away after a few seconds.

"Just in case." She said and made her way to the group. I grabbed my green bike and set out into the night looking for Nico.

Nico and I do this kind of thing a lot so we have a special rendezvous point. Usually we do rock, paper, scissors for who has to be the zombie bait but I think he was trying to impress our new friends. I met Nico at a special bench in Central Park. Nico and I still get around a lot during the apocalypse. I sat down next to Nico.

"You alright man?" I asked him.

"Yea, just thinking." He said.

"About Bianca?" I guessed. He nodded. Bianca was Nico's older sister and my cousin. She was with us when everything started. The others think that Travis and Connor were the first deaths we witnessed but in truth we've seen much more. That's what makes Nico and I leaders. We've gotten used to this and we kill without regret.

"I miss her Percy. I miss her, my parents, your parents, Tyson, Fisher, Juliet; I'm just tired of it." Nico said with tears in his eyes.

"I know. I miss them too." I said. "Let's go home."

"Home." Nico said bitterly. Nico and I arrived at the hotel at about three in the morning. We put our key in and opened the front door. Immediately, Jason was in front of me panicking.

"Jason, what's wrong?" I asked trying to get my friends breathing under control. Jason calmed down enough to get one word out.

"Beckendorf."


	4. Chapter 4

**GIRL IN SILVER**

**PERCY**

Nico, Jason, and I bolted through the front doors to find our group gathered around a figure on the ground. I pushed my way passed Hazel and Leo and got a good look at the figure. My friend, Beckendorf, was quickly bleeding out from a wound to his abdomen. I kneeled down beside him, next to a sobbing Silena.

"Beckendorf, what happened?" I asked frantically. Silena interrupted me before he could answer.

"Will! Do something! Please!" Silena begged. Will just shook his head.

"I'm sorry but the wound is too deep. There's nothing I can do." Will said. Silena made a strangled noise and started crying harder.

"It's okay, Will. It's not your fault. You're an amazing doctor." Beckendorf said. Will's eyes began to tear up also. I looked my friend in the eye.

"Beckendorf, tell me who did this to you." I commanded. The life left my friend's eyes but not before he got out one crucial bit of information.

"Luke."

I stood over my friend's now lifeless body with a dark expression. I kept my back facing the group because I couldn't bear to see their expressions.

"This is now a manhunt." I told everyone. "I want Luke."

"I would love to cut off that guy's head." Jason said.

"No, I want him brought back here alive."

"Why, let's just take him out." Nico said.

"I want him here so I can skin him alive like the animal he is." I could faintly here Thalia crying over her former boyfriend. No one else made a sound. "I'm going out. Will, fix up Frank here. Grover and Juniper can show the rest of you around." Annabeth stepped in front of me.

"I know what he did was wrong but you can't kill him." Annabeth said. I looked her in the eyes.

"I'm sorry, Annabeth, but when I find Luke…" I said. "…I'm going to do a whole lot more than just kill him." Annabeth looked like she was about to cry. I walked out the front door. The last time I stormed out of the hotel I went to a special spot to calm down. A nice, peaceful place where I could just think. The American Museum of Natural History.

I sat down on the cool floor and laid my head back against the wall. I sat there for about an hour, just thinking, until I heard a scream. A girl's voice echoed for help throughout the museum. I ran towards the voice. When I turned a corner, I saw a girl in silver hunting clothes firing arrows into a crowed of zombies. The girl's arrows hit their target every time. She was a natural with the bow. She fired her last arrow and the final zombie fell. What she didn't notice was the zombie sneaking up behind her. I grabbed the closest thing I could find, which happened to be a dinosaur bone, and threw it at the zombie. It made contact and knocked the zombie backwards. The girl turned and impaled the zombie with an arrow which was lying on the ground. She then turned to face me. I walked over to her and helped her retrieve a few arrows. I handed the arrows to the girl which she accepted gratefully.

"Here you go." I said. "Bye the way, my name's Percy." She didn't respond but instead stared at the floor while cleaning blood off her arrows. "We have a safe place if you want to come with us." She now looked at me like she just realized I was there.

"Percy, I gratefully appreciate what you did for me. You saved my life, but I don't think it would be a good idea for me to stay with you." She said.

"Why is that?"

"I just don't play well with guys."

"There are girls there too." She threw her bow to the ground angrily.

"Why do you want me to come with you so badly? I'm a freak. You would never talk to someone like me before this."

"You've obviously never met me." I noticed that all the dead zombies were wearing the same clothing as the girl. "These are your friends?" I guessed. Her eyes began to tear up and she buried her face in my shirt.

"We were sleeping…and…and…one person got bitten…and then the rest…" Was all she could say before breaking down. I rubbed her back sympathetically.

"Why did you say that you were a freak?" I asked. She shook her head. I noticed that she was the same age as me and the others and was wearing a silver bandanna in her black hair.

"Not many guys find it attractive when a girl can shoot better than him." She said. I laughed.

"Nowadays that's exactly what people find attractive." She laughed and stepped out my embrace.

"My name's Zoe Nightshade."

"How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Sixteen." She replied.

"Well my group is staying at a hotel right now and literally everyone there is sixteen including me. I'm sure half the guys there would go crazy over you." That seemed to disappoint her for some reason. "So, Miss Nightshade, you in?" She smiled.

"Yes, I'm in." We walked out of the museum and talked as we headed back to the hotel. Zoe said that she lost her family like everyone else when the apocalypse started and that she was with a group of friends, all girls, who were good hunters. I guess they were all at a shooting range when it started. We walked into the hotel and found everyone silently sitting at the dining table. There were extra chairs pulled up for the new members. A girl that I had never seen before was sitting in my chair and leading everyone in a prayer.

"Lord, we pray that you watch over our dear friends Beckendorf and Silena…" I slammed the door and everyone stopped to look at me.

"What is going on?" I demanded in an icy tone. "What happened to Silena? Who is she?"

"Relax, I am Calypso." The girl said. "We are praying for the death of your friends."

"Silena's dead?" Everyone nodded sadly. I took a breath and tried to hold back tears. "Well, who are you praying to?" Calypso looked at me confused.

"God, of course" She said.

"How can you be so sure that there is a god?"

"Faith." She replied simply.

"Yea, well, you know what I had faith in?" I began. "I had faith that when I took in three random people off the streets that one of them wouldn't kill my best friend. I had faith that my friends and I would find a cure to all this. I had faith that, if there is a god, he wouldn't stand by and let the world in." I saw Zoe nod in agreement to what I was saying. "I don't have faith anymore. I'm going to protect my family, my friends, and I'm not going to rely on someone isn't even there." Calypso shook her head.

"Ye of little faith."

"Yea, that's no faith, actually. I guess you missed the whole rant." Zoe said. "The facts are that no one is going to save you except for yourself." Calypso stood up and walked past everyone and out the front door. We all watched as she stood in the middle of the street and called out to the surrounding zombies.

"I have faith that the lord will protect me. I have faith…" Was all she said before her screams cut her off. I closed the door so no one had to see her suffer. After a few seconds, the screaming stopped. I turned to address my friends who had been mostly quiet while the confrontation went down.

"We have to protect each other because no one else is going to do it." I said and left to take a shower. I stood under the hot water and fought back horrible memories which kept surfacing. My mom and dad dying in front of me, my brother screaming for help in the next room, not knowing where my twin brother and little sister might be. That's the worst part. Not knowing their fate or if they're still alive. I heard a knock on the door.

"Percy?" Grover called.

"What is it, Grover?" I called back.

"We need to talk."

"You're not breaking up with me are you?"

"This is serious, Percy. It's about Silena." I turned the water off and quickly changed, not bothering to dry my hair.

"Is it true? Was that psycho telling the truth?" I asked desperately. He nodded sadly.

"It's true."

"What happened?"

"As soon as you left, she ran up to the room. We wanted to give her some space, but when Annabeth went to check on her…" He trailed off.

"She killed herself." I said knowing that Silena might try something like that. Grover nodded. "I thought she might. She couldn't live without Beck."

"You knew and you didn't try to stop her?" Grover asked not angry but curiously.

"It's better this way. She would never be the same Silena we knew." Grover nodded in agreement.

"We buried her next to Beckendorf, out back."

"Good." We both stayed silent for a minute.

"Come on; let's go grab something to eat. It was a rough night and we need our leader right now. We need to regroup and plan our next move." I gave a humorless laugh.

"What next move Grover? What can we do?"

"I'm glad you asked. As it turns out, Leo is basically the scrawnier equivalent to Beck in the home improvement department. Also, the girl in silver downstairs thinks she knows where we can go to get a cure." For the first time in a long time, I felt that we might have a chance at surviving, finding a cure, and just living normally again.

"Okay, let's go regroup."


	5. Chapter 5

**RECOVERY**

**ANNABETH**

The remaining fourteen of us all gathered around the meeting table. Percy and Nico assumed their positions at each end of the table. The six from Jupiter's Bar, Jason, Piper, Leo, Frank, Hazel, and Reyna sat on one side of the table. The rest of us sat on the other side with Thalia on my left and Percy on my right. Percy started us off.

"Zoe, I hear you have some valuable information." Percy said.

"Yea, I think I know where we can go to find a cure. It's where my friends and I were headed."

"Where would that be?"

"The Empire State Building."

"Why do you think that there is a cure there?" I asked.

"There are 103 floors in the Empire State Building. Rumor has it that on one floor, scientists were doing secret testing and we believed that they could have a cure. We saw a ton of graffiti passing through the states that talked about it." Zoe said.

"So, which floor is it?" Jason asked.

"I have no idea. All the graffiti said was Empire State Building, 600th floor."

"Why 600th?" I asked.

"I have no idea."

"So, all we have to do is raid the Empire State Building." Nico said.

"Easier said than done." Percy said. "That place is swarming with the infected and the elevator will attract too much attention. We need to think this through."

"If things go south, we'll need an escape plan." I said.

"I'll take care of that." Nico said.

"So, who's going?" Grover asked.

"You, Will, and Juniper will stay here as usual." Percy said. "Some people are going to need to stay here. Anyone want to volunteer to go?"

"I'll go." Eight people said at the same time.

"Okay, Zoe and Thalia are on surveillance until we get back. I want constant contact or I'll assume we have the same situation as before. We're leaving in ten." Everyone left to get ready. I grabbed my trusted dagger and stopped by Percy's room. Percy was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling. I lay down next to him.

"So, Zoe's pretty." I said casually. Percy sat up.

"Are you actually jealous?" Percy asked.

"No, of course not. Why do you say that?"

"Oh my gods. You're so jealous."

"I'm not jealous!" Percy wrapped his arms around me.

"Zoe's great and a good friend but I don't care about her the way I care about you. I won't let anything happen to you, Annabeth." Percy leaned in and closed the distance between us. We pulled apart and just sat there for a few minutes enjoying each other's company.

"Percy! Annabeth!" Piper called.

"Pipes, relax. You don't know what they're doing in there." Jason said.

"Get your head out of the gutter, Jason. They are not doing anything."

"Of course they are, Percy's my boy." Piper knocked on the door.

"We've got to go!" Piper called.

"Follow my lead." I whispered to Annabeth. I took of my shirt and messed up my hair. I cracked open the door so I could see Piper. "Um, we're a little bit busy right now." Piper smiled.

"Percy, we've known each other for a long time. Cut the act." Piper said. I opened the door.

"Whatever, we're coming." The four of us met the other half of our group at the front door. "Is everyone ready?" Percy asked. Everyone nodded their heads. We started walking to our destination.

"What's this emergency escape plan?" Reyna asked.

"Nico, that one's all you." Percy said.

"I brought parachutes." Nico said proudly. Everyone stopped walking.

"You brought parachutes?" Piper asked. Nico nodded proudly again. "Where did you even get parachutes?"

"I found them."

"Of course you did."

"We're here." Percy said. We all walked through the front doors. Three zombies came after us but were quickly killed. We all moved to the stair well. Percy opened the door, took a quick look inside, and quickly closed it. He turned to face us.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"There are literally ten zombies for every one of us in there." Percy said. "We're going to have to take the elevator. When we get to the floor, guys cover, girls search, that's our game plan."

"What floor are we going to? How do you know where to look?" I asked.

"I had Will do some research. We think that the testing was done in room six on the 100th floor. That must be where people are getting 600 from."

"Makes sense." Jason said. We all piled into the elevator.

"When we get there, it's going to be like a beacon to these things. We find what we need and we get back to the elevator." Percy said. Every second felt like an hour until the doors finally opened. Percy and Nico decapitated the closest zombies. Frank, Leo, and Jason helped them kill all the zombies within sight. Piper, Hazel, Reyna, and I started looking for the room.

"I found it!" Piper exclaimed. Percy decapitated the last zombie on the floor as she said that. We all stood in front of a steel door with the number 600 on it.

"This is it." Percy said and pushed a large button opening the doors. We stepped into a laboratory with all kinds of vials, research papers, and computers depicting tests for the infection. The steel doors closed automatically behind us. Proudly displayed on one of the walls were three vials labeled Cure 1-3. Percy grabbed the three vials and placed them safely in a box. "Will can take a better look at these when we get back." We grabbed some other papers and stuffed them into our bags.

"Let's get out of here." Frank said who was holding the parachutes for our emergency escape. Frank hit the button to open the steel doors but was met with a horde of zombies outside the doors. The closest one grabbed a helpless Frank and pulled him into the group. Frank screamed as the first zombie bit down on his arm.

"Frank!" Hazel screamed. Hazel and Piper pulled Frank's mangled body back as the others cut off the heads of any zombie who got close enough.

"Frank's been bitten and we're trapped at the moment." Percy said to Thalia through his earpiece. "Yes, Annabeth's fine but Frank's in trouble." Percy listened as Thalia told him something else and turned to tell the group something. "Zoe has eyes on the floor from the building next to us. They're blocking the elevator but not the window. If we make a dash to the right we can jump."

"Frank had the parachutes. He dropped most of them." Leo said.

"We still have five." Piper said. "But there are eight of us."

"You mean there are nine of us." Hazel said stubbornly.

"I'm sorry, Hazel." Percy said. "But now's not the time for this."

"So, who doesn't get a parachute? Jason asked.

"Some people can just jump together." I said.

"Sorry, Annabeth, but these are exactly luxury parachutes. It can't support two." Nico said.

"Thanks, Nico. I knew we could count on you."

"I'm not leaving, Frank." Hazel said. Suddenly, Frank's eyes shot open and he buried his teeth into Hazel's neck. Percy swiftly decapitated Frank and we watched as Hazel bled out from her neck. Leo held on to Hazel as the light left her eyes. Leo had tears streaming down his face.

"They're going to pay for what they've done." Leo said. We watched as Leo poured gas all over himself and his body ignited into flames. Leo opened the door and dove into the crowd fully submerged in fire. Percy was the first one to snap out of his shock.

"Let's go!" Percy yelled. We grabbed the five parachutes and ran to the window. Percy elbowed the glass and it shattered giving us our escape route. All of us were holding parachutes except for Nico.

"Luck of the draw, I guess." Nico said.

"Nico, I'm not leaving you." Percy said.

"Yes, you are." Percy just shook his head. "It has to be one of us."

"Please, Nico."

"I'm sorry, Percy."

"We can jump together. It's worth the risk." Nico sighed.

"Fine, but if we both die it's on you." Jason and Piper grabbed each other's hand as they jumped out of the Empire State Building together. Reyna dove out after them. Percy put on the parachute and turned to grab Nico. "I'm sorry." Nico said and shoved Percy out the window.

"Nico!" Percy yelled as he fell. I stared at the guy who was giving his life for us. Nico always made the risky choices and didn't get himself killed in an idiotic way like Leo. Nico was dying to save us, not for blind revenge. I hugged Nico for the final time.

"Thank you." I said. Nico nodded. I walked over to the window and jumped out after my friends. The last thing I saw was Nico draw his black iron sword and charge the horde of flaming zombies occupying the hallway.


	6. Chapter 6

**THE TRIALS**

**PERCY**

Water has always been my outlet. Whenever I needed to be at peace or get over something I would go to the museum or the pool on our roof. As soon as we returned, I headed up to the pool without a word. It's too hard to tell your friends that someone close to them has died. I popped my head above the surface to see Annabeth sitting at one end of the pool with her feet in the water. I swam over and sat next to her.

"Percy, you need to get your head in the game." Annabeth said.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked confused. She faced me angrily.

"Our friends just died and you run off to the pool while we have to deal with telling everyone the news. You're the leader here Percy, you have to start acting like it. I know that Nico's death must be pretty hard on you but you can't let it be in vain. We have three possible cures with us. We need to run some tests and figure this out and you have to be the one to tell them that." I picked my head up.

"You're right." I said. "I'm being a coward. Let's do this." Annabeth smiled and kissed me. "What was that for?"

"You're a good leader Percy. They need you right now." We headed down to the dining room. Grover and Juniper were trying to distract themselves by cooking and Will was no doubt in his room trying to figure the cures out. Thalia, Zoe, Reyna, Jason, and Piper were sitting at the table with sad expressions. I walked over to my chair and slammed my fist on the table. Everyone looked at me.

"These last few days have been an all-time low." I said. "Our friends would give their lives any day if it meant finding a cure. I know I would." I took a second to look at everyone's faces. "This should not be a time of mourning. We should be celebrating. We've got three potential cures and we brought in some new people. I know it's not going to be easy but we have to get through this. We should be up there, with Will, figuring this thing out." Jason stood up.

"You're right, let's go see Will." Everyone with the exception of Grover and Juniper met in Will's laboratory across the hall. Will was examining something under a microscope.

"What's the news Will?" I asked. Will looked up and noticed everyone in the room.

"I can't really tell what the difference is but I do know one thing." Will said.

"What's that?"

"No one can bring someone back to life. If this is going to cure the infected, it can't bring Beck and Silena back. We all lowered our heads at that. "It's not our place to bring them back. They're in a better place now."

"Is that all you found out?" Thalia asked.

"No, actually, there is another thing." Will said. "All the serum could possibly do is rid the body of the virus. It won't restore decaying flesh and things like that."

"So, unless you give them the cure right away, it won't matter." Annabeth said. "They will already be too damaged."

"Yea and it's not magic. If someone gets their neck bitten, the cure isn't going to patch it up." Will said.

"So, basically, you're saying that this can only heal someone if they get it immediately and the infected wound isn't fatal on its own?" I summarized.

"Yea and that's assuming that one of these even works." Will said.

"Perfect."

"So, how do we test it?" Piper asked.

"You can test it on me." Grover said while walking through the door.

"G-man you realize that you have to be infected then." I said.

"I know. I'll do it. I want this to be over. We're running out of options. Just don't tell Juniper about this."

"Okay, Grover, lay down." Will commanded. Will opened the curtains so we could all watch from the hallway. Will walked out into the hallway to talk to us without Grover. "I already thought about this." He showed us a needle filled with blood. "This is blood from the infected. It will have the same effect on him, just without the bites." He walked back in and strapped Grover down. He waited a few seconds and surgically injected Grover with the blood. We all stayed silent for a few seconds until Grover started fighting against his restraints. Will took a needle filled with a blue liquid and injected Grover with it. We waited for a few seconds to see if it had any affect. Nothing happened.

"Oh no, Grover." Piper said.

"There are still two more." Jason assured her but didn't seem too confident. Will grabbed a syringe filled with a greenish liquid and surgically injected Grover again. Again, we waited and again nothing happened.

"Third times the charm?" Annabeth asked unsure.

"Yea, third times the charm." Zoe unenthusiastically agreed. Will grabbed the final syringe filled with a purple looking liquid and plunged it into Grover's arm. We held our breath, waiting for any sign of the old Grover.

Nothing happened.

Will started frantically stabbing Grover with different needles hoping something would work. Will mixed some of the liquids together. Nothing worked. After about an hour, Will threw the vials across the room where they shattered against the wall. Will stormed out of the room and over to me.

"I'm sorry Perce. I tried everything. Grover's gone." Will said with tear in his eyes and went to his room. I looked to the others.

"So, who's going to break the news to Juniper?" Thalia asked. Annabeth was about to volunteer but I stopped her.

"This one's on me. You guys get some sleep. I'll tell her." Everyone, including Jason, gave me a hug before heading off to bed. I walked down to the kitchen to see Juniper leaning on the counter of the bar. I sat down across from her. Juniper set two glasses down and took a shot of some type of hard alcohol. She started laughing.

"Percy, you know what my worst nightmare is?" Juniper asked me. I took a shot.

"What?" I asked. She laughed again.

"My worst nightmare is that one day I would be cleaning up in the kitchen and you would walk through those doors and tell me that Grover is dead." She started crying. "And here we are, living my nightmare." We both took another shot.

"How did you know?"

"When he left, he told me that he loved me and he said goodbye. He said that everything would be okay." She let out a humorless laugh. "Well, guess what Grover. You lied to me. Nothing's going to be okay. It's the apocalypse and we're all going to die." We took another shot. We were both starting to get pretty drunk. I started laughing.

"It's probably not a good idea to tell you that none of the cures worked." We both started laughing but then Juniper got serious.

"Where is he?"

"The lab." Juniper and I took one final shot before stumbling out of the dining room and up the stairs. Juniper walked into the room and sat on the chair next to a struggling Grover. Juniper started leaning in towards him. "Juniper, I-I don't think that's such a good idea." Juniper leaned in a kissed zombie Grover anyway. Grover didn't hesitate to bite down on his wife's face. Juniper screamed and fell to the ground. Before I even knew what was happening, there were two silver arrows sticking out my friend's heads. Zoe walked through the door. I started cracking up and fell on my back.

"What's so funny?" Zoe demanded. I pointed at her.

"You are." I said and started laughing again.

"Oh my gods, are you drunk?"

"No, you're drunk."

"Come on Percy. Let's get you out of here." I held onto Zoe for support as she took me to my room. She threw me onto the bed. "You're such an idiot."

"But, you love me." I taunted.

"I do not." Zoe said.

"Yes you do. I see the way you look at Annabeth. You're so jealous."

"I'm not in love with you. I just care a lot about you. You saved my life and you're pretty much the only male friend I've ever had." I seemed to sober up for a minute.

"I care about you too Zoe. That's why I promise I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"Don't make promises that you can't keep Percy." Zoe said and left my room. I buried my head in my pillow and fell asleep. I woke a few hours later with a horrible ringing in my ears. I looked at the clock which read three in the morning. The ringing continued. Suddenly, I noticed that the ringing wasn't inside my head. It was my cell phone. I answered it, curious as to who might still be out there.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Percy." The voice said.

"Yea, who is this?" I asked.

"You have no idea how relieved we were when you answered the phone."

"Who is this?" I repeated.

"I need you to meet us somewhere. We have to see you. Where are you right now?"

"My apartment in New York. Who is this?" The man ignored the question again.

"Perfect, meet us at noon, tomorrow, in Central Park."

"Okay, but who is this? I demanded.

"Perce, it really hurts that you don't recognize my voice." Suddenly I knew exactly who I was speaking to.

"Later, bro."


	7. Chapter 7

**BLOOD BROTHER**

**PERCY**

I sat at the head of the dining room table, eating breakfast with my remaining friends. It was the worst breakfast that we've had in a long time. Without Grover and Juniper, no one knew how to make something as simple as scrambled eggs.

"Come on Reyna. You're a girl. You have to know how to make something." Will groaned.

"Will, don't talk to me." Reyna warned. Will put his hands up in surrender.

"But seriously, no one here knows how to make any breakfast food?" Will asked.

"What are we going to do?" Piper asked. "We can't eat ramen noodles for every meal."

"Guys there's something I need to tell you." I said gathering everyone's attention.

"Wait, Percy, why are you wearing sunglasses?" Annabeth asked.

"Captain, over here decided to get hammered last night." Zoe said.

"You cannot seriously have a hangover." Annabeth said angrily.

"Thanks Zoe." I said.

"Anytime." She responded.

"There really is something I need to tell you though." Everyone went quiet to hear what I had to say. "I got a call last night." That seemed to surprise a few people.

"That's great." Piper said. "I was beginning to think we were the only ones left."

"Who did you get a call from?" Thalia asked.

"My brother." That surprised everyone.

"Fisher? As in, your twin brother Fisher?" Jason asked.

"Yea, he called me last night. He wants to meet in Central Park."

"Is Juliet with him?" I lowered my head sadly.

"I don't know. He didn't say. Jason, Piper and I will go meet them since none of you know him. We will leave in an hour. I can't wait till noon." I left to go get ready. I went for a quick swim. I did a few laps thinking about how much Fisher would enjoy the pool. Annabeth dove into the pool with me.

"Percy, I just want you to know that I'm really happy that you found your brother." She said.

"Thanks Annabeth." I said and kissed her on the cheek. "We should probably be heading out soon." I went to get out of the pool.

"Percy, wait." Annabeth said. "Just don't get your hopes up. We lived in a messed up world. You don't know what they're going to be like."

"I know but I need to believe that they're okay. I need my family back."

"I know but just remember. We're your family too."

"I know you are. That's one of the only good things about the end of the world. I met you." Annabeth crashed her lips on mine.

"Just be careful, okay?"

"I always am." I changed and met my longtime friends Jason and Piper at the door. We all wordlessly walked outside and made our trek to Central Park. Piper was the first to break the silence in an annoying way.

"Percy, are you okay?" Piper asked.

"Of course, why do you ask?" I replied.

"Your best friend died last night and you acted like you didn't even care." Jason nodded in agreement.

"You think I didn't care?" I asked angrily. "I'm sick of losing people. It was okay before when I had Nico and Grover and my other friends. I could believe that my siblings were okay out there. I could believe that my friends Jason and Piper were still alive. I found you and I'm thrilled about that." I paused. "But I lost Nico and Grover and so many others and I'm scared about finding out that my sisters dead. I'm just really scared. I don't think I could take it if something happened to one of you." Piper engulfed me in a hug.

"We're not going anywhere Percy. We will be at your side until your final breath." I returned the hug.

"Thanks Jason. We're spilling our inner most thoughts and you're just standing there." Jason was staring at something in the distance.

"Fisher." He said. Piper and I looked to where Jason was staring. My twin brother, Fisher, was sitting on a bench alone. We ran over and the three of us hugged him at the same time.

"Thank the gods you're okay." I said.

"I'm glad to see you too bro." Fisher said. "Please tell me Juliet's okay." Fisher dropped his head. "No, no, no, she can't be." Fisher raised his head quickly.

"Whoa, wait, she's still alive." Fisher said. "She's just not in good shape. She really misses you. She's not coping with all this very well."

"Who could blame her?" Piper said. "She's only eight."

"Where is she?" I asked. "Where are you staying?"

"Dad's house." Fisher answered. I frowned at that. "I'm guessing you don't want to stay there."

"You could say that."

"What's wrong with your dad's house?" Piper asked.

"Percy and our father had, let's say, a falling out." Fisher answered.

"Percy, you never told us that." Piper said.

"Dad's a little crazy." I said.

"Dad isn't exactly father of the year, but his craziness did end up saving us." Fisher said.

"How?"

"Dad was a prepper."

"A what?" Jason asked.

"A prepper, as in, prepared for something. In this case, the apocalypse. Jules and I have been living in his basement since it went down. I was too much of a coward to call you. I didn't want to find out that you were dead but Jules kept asking so I just went for it."

"Well, we're glad you did." Piper said.

"Let's go get Jules and head back to the hotel." I said. Fisher led us to dad's house and I ran through the front door to see my little sister. I knocked on the basement door.

"Who is it?" A frightened voice asked.

"A zombie." I replied. Jules opened the door.

"You're not funny Fisher." Jules said.

"Can you still not tell us apart?" I asked. She looked into my eyes.

"Percy!" She yelled and tackled me in a flying hug. She started crying. "I missed you."

"I know. I missed you too, but now we are going to our base to meet all my friends okay?"

"Okay." Jules said. I picked her up so she was riding on my shoulders. We met everyone outside.

"Hi Juliet." Piper said.

"Piper!" She yelled. I set her down so she could give Piper a hug.

"What, Jason doesn't get one?" Jason asked. Jules ran over and tackled Jason. Jules climbed onto Jason's back and we started walking back to the hotel.

"Juliet, you look different now." Piper commented. It was true. Juliet's dark hair grew longer and her sea green eyes weren't as bright.

"Fisher said that I grew up." Juliet said.

"You know, usually when people grow up they become less annoying." Jason said. Jules slapped Jason on side of his head. Suddenly, we heard a moaning coming from behind a bush.

"Juliet, don't look." I said. Juliet nodded and put her hands over her eyes. A zombie walked out from behind a bush. I let out all my fury and cut off every limb it had before severing the head. I looked behind me. Jason and Piper had a neutral expression while Fisher looked mortified. "It's the world we live in, Fish. Survive or die." Fisher expression hardened and he took my sword. He found another random zombie and cut its head off with a single swing. "Good, you're a natural." He frowned.

"I don't want to be a natural." He said.

"I don't want you to be a natural either." I said. "We need you to be." I looked over at Jules who still had her eyes shut. "You can open your eyes now, Juliet." She opened her eyes and acted like nothing happened.

"Let's go. The hotel is right over there." Jason said. We walked through the front door. Everyone surrounded us immediately.

"Everyone, this is my brother and sister, Fisher and Juliet." I said.

"Wow, you look just like Percy." Thalia said. "Is it good that there are two of them now?"

"I think it's pretty good." Reyna said.

"Excuse me?" Annabeth demanded.

"Okay, let's go celebrate with cold pizza on the roof." I said. There were some cheers from the group. Within ten minutes we were all swimming and having a good time on the roof. I noticed Fisher and Reyna having a really good time, with each other that is.

"Yea, Fisher! Get some!" Will yelled. Fisher grabbed Reyna and they both jumped into the pool. For the first time it seemed like not everything was bad and we could still have fun. Annabeth sat down next to me on a beach chair.

"Your sister is adorable." Annabeth said. "It creeps me out seeing you make out with Reyna." She pointed towards Fisher and Reyna in the pool.

"Yea, it creeps me out too." I said.

"You seem happy. I'm glad." I nodded.

"My family's back. I have you and the others. Maybe it won't be so bad. We could leave, all of us could. We could go somewhere safe and just forget about this. Our kids would never even know what the rest of the world is like."

"So, you've been thinking about kids?" I smiled.

"I'd like to. One day, when everything dialed down." Annabeth smiled.

"Me too." Suddenly, fireworks started going off on the street. Everyone panicked and started frantically looking for the source. Annabeth and I peered over the roof. There were at least 100 zombies closing in on the area. I looked around for something that could have started them.

Or someone. My eyes locked on a figure on the roof across the street. Luke was standing there with a wicked scowl and pointed towards the front door. Zombies started pouring into the hotel.

"Percy! The front door is open!" Will yelled. I looked back over at Luke but couldn't find him. Jason ran over to my side.

"Perce we've got to go man. It's time for that emergency escape plan." Jason said frantically. Jason and I readied the zip line. Everyone gathered for instructions.

"There are two fully fueled cars waiting for our escape. Five in each. Don't look back, just go." Fisher grabbed Juliet and took off down the zip line. Reyna followed quickly after. Thalia and Will went next. Annabeth kissed me one last time and jumped. Zoe and Piper gave me a hug before following Annabeth down the zip line. As soon as they went the zombies broke through the door and charged at me and Jason. "Jason! Go!" Jason gave me an angry look for making him leave me but he went down the zip line. I killed the closest three zombies and took off my blood stained shirt. I took a running start and leaped off the building. I wrapped my shirt around the zip line and started speeding towards an opening in the building. As I got closer, I noticed my friends lying unconscious on the floor. "What the hades?" I said to myself. I dodged a random slash at my head and rolled out of the way. I unsheathed my sword and faced my attacker, Luke. Our swords collided several times, neither of us giving an inch. He made a mistake and I gave him a long cut going down his face. Luke screamed in pain and jumped into a black van driving by. Luke's new friends dropped a note out the window and sped out onto the road. The driver was wearing an eye patch and there was an unconscious figure sitting in the passenger seat. The figure had golden blond hair and closed startling gray eyes.

Annnabeth.


	8. Chapter 8

**THE DARK KNIGHT**

**ANNABETH**

I woke up with a throbbing head ache in an unfamiliar room. I was stuck in a chair with handcuffs preventing me from moving. I started thrashing in my seat, trying to escape. I heard a moan behind me. Thalia stirred in the chair back to back with mine.

"Thalia?" I asked.

"Annie?" She responded.

"Where are we?"

"I don't know."

"You're in a warehouse." A new voice said. Luke emerged from the shadows with a long, jagged scar running the length of his face.

"Luke!" Thalia demanded angrily.

"Who did you lose a fight against?" I taunted. Luke frowned.

"That annoying boyfriend of yours." Luke said.

"What did you do to Percy and the others?"

"Relax, they're fine. I just wanted you two back. We were family first and they took you away from me."

"You killed Beckendorf." Thalia said.

"It was a shame but he wouldn't let me leave."

"Yea, because you're mentally unstable." I said.

"Annie that hurt."

"Don't call me, Annie." Luke sat down in a chair to the side.

"Anyway, your friends should be coming soon."

"What do you mean?"

"Ethan and I left them a little note, telling them where we are."

"Why would you do that?" Thalia asked. Luke laughed.

"I don't really care what happens to them. I just want Percy."

"Why?" I asked. "Why did you become a different person when we met them?" Luke sighed.

"Percy and I know each other from before this all started. My brothers, Connor and Travis, were good friends with him. Our fathers new each other too." Luke started circling us as he spoke. "I found out something that connects all of us. Our parents have been lying to us about what they do. Our parents are members of an elite group of people known as the Olympians. The Olympians are the wealthiest and most powerful people in society as you already know. The world's most famous architect, Athena, is your role model, Annabeth, right?"

"Yea, her work is amazing." I said.

"What you didn't know is that Athena is actually your biological mother."

"You're lying."

"Nope, most of us are children of the Olympians. Thalia and Jason's father is Zeus, Piper's mother is Aphrodite, my father is Hermes, and then there's Percy."

"What about, Percy?"

"He's the son of Poseidon. All our parents have abandoned us except for Percy's father. It's funny. Percy is the only one who can even talk to his Olympian parent and he says that he wants nothing to do with him."

"So, that's what this is about. You're jealous of Percy."

"It's not fair. My father never even said a word to me and Percy gets to see his every weekend if he wants. It's just not fair." He stopped right in front of me.

"Why not kill Fisher and Juliet? Why just Percy?"

"Percy is too loyal. If I killed one of them, Percy would track me to the ends of the earth. Fisher and Juliet just don't have what it takes."

"You're underestimating Fisher."

"Maybe so, but there's another reason. As you know, Poseidon is the world leader for anything and everything water related. I also happen to know that he was very paranoid about there being an apocalypse."

"So, Percy's father is Poseidon. Percy never knew that. Poseidon was scared of the apocalypse but was also a billionaire. So, what?" Thalia said.

"Exactly, a billionaire, afraid of the apocalypse so what does he do? He pours large sums of money into a luxury island to escape to."

"So, you want to know where the island is and how to get there?" I asked.

"Now you're getting it."

"But Percy doesn't know about it so why do you need him?"

"Because if I have Percy, then Poseidon will just tell me where it is."

"Poseidon's alive?"

"Yea, my father has some pretty illegal and high tech stuff. The perks of being one of the most powerful men in the world, I guess. I found his personal lab and found some pretty important stuff."

"Like what?"

"Well, it would appear that the Olympians were keeping tabs on the number of infected people. I have no idea how they managed that, but I know exactly how many people are still unaffected." Luke pulled out a thin tablet with a world map on it. There were several blinking red dots on the screen. "My theory is that this tracks body heat and the infected have cool bodies."

"So, how many people are still uninfected?" Thalia asked.

"There are a total of fourteen living people on the planet." Luke said.

"Oh my gods." I said.

"Yea, it's horrible. There are four people in this warehouse, the two of you, Ethan Nakamura and me. Percy's little group has eight people. Percy, Jason, Piper, Will, Reyna, Zoe, Fisher, and Juliet. Here is where it gets interesting. All of us are in New York, but there is one blinking light in the middle of the ocean. That's where Poseidon is."

"That's only thirteen people."

"There is a fourteenth in New York with us but it's like the person is cloaked and only appears in certain hot spots."

"So, your plan is to capture Percy and use him as ransom so that you can live it up on Poseidon's island. Once again, why not use Fisher or Juliet as ransom?"

"We can't have Percy alive. He will just get in the way. He's their leader, the only reason that they're still alive. Without him, the others will just die off anyway and we can rebuild the planet just the four of us."

"You're sick." Thalia said.

"Never going to happen." I said.

"It won't be your choice." Luke said. The tablet started beeping and drew Luke's attention. "It's show time. They're here" Percy, Jason, Piper, Fisher, and Zoe busted through the door. Zoe had her bow notched and aimed at Luke's head. The others had swords and knives drawn and ready for a fight.

"Luke, you're outnumbered." Percy said. "Where's eye patch at?"

"Percy, Percy, you are so predictable." Luke said. The man with the eye patch, Ethan, walked through the door with a knife against Juliet's throat. "It was so obvious that you were going to leave Juliet in the safety of your car. Ethan just had to take out the pathetic medic of yours." Percy was fuming.

"Will's not dead but your sister will be unless you call your dad and ask for his location." Ethan said.

"Dad isn't alive. What are you talking about?" Fisher demanded.

"Well, there's something that you didn't know about your father." Luke said.

"That he's an Olympian? Yea, already knew that." Percy said. Luke frowned in confusion. "You're probably asking about Half-Blood Island. My dad isn't on that island, Chiron is."

"What are you talking about? How do you know all this?" Luke was getting angry. He hoisted Thalia and I up and held us at sword point in front of him so that we were between him and Percy. Juliet stood next to us in the same position.

"Half-Blood Island was designed by my father in case of an apocalypse, nuclear war, you name it. The idea was to have a safe place for the children of Olympians to go so that we could carry out the business. The reason I know this, is because I have a father who actually cares about me." Luke was getting furious now. Suddenly, he started laughing.

"You shouldn't have made me mad, Jackson." With one swing of his sword, Thalia's headless body dropped to the ground. Everything immediately went to chaos. Zoe fired an arrow into Ethan's arm which released Juliet. Piper grabbed Juliet and dove out of the way. Fisher and Reyna began fighting Ethan, sword on sword. Luke used me as a shield while Percy, Jason, and Zoe approached with weapons drawn. Luke held his sword across the front of my neck. "Drop your weapons!" Luke commanded. "Now!" Everyone placed their weapons on the ground but continued to stare each other down. Ethan suddenly made a move to stab Percy.

"Percy! Look out!" Ethan made a stab at Percy but Zoe dove in the way and took the impact. Ethan pulled his sword out looking as shocked as the rest of us. Percy turned around in shock and his sea green eyes darkened in anger. Percy punched Ethan, breaking his nose and rendering him unconscious. Percy kneeled down at Zoe's side, wordlessly.

"Zoe." He whispered. Zoe shook her head.

"You saved my life once. I had to return the favor." Zoe said.

"Jason! Get her to Will!" Jason looked like he wanted to protest and say that there wasn't anything Will could do but he carried her out anyway. "Fisher, take Ethan outside. We're going to have a nice conversation later." The tension returned as Percy stood in front of Piper and Reyna staring down Luke who had his sword across my neck. "Just let her go, Luke. There's only two ways this goes down and you die in both of them."

"You could tell me where the island is." Luke said.

"I could." Percy paused. "But then I would hunt you down and kill you."

"Well, I guess if I'm going down I might as well take Annabeth-ugh." Luke stopped mid-sentence. Luke slowly looked down at the black iron sword running through his heart. Luke looked back up and dropped, lifelessly, to the ground. Behind Luke, with a bloody sword, stood a sixteen year old guy with all black clothes and dark hair.

"Nico."


	9. Chapter 9

**NICO, THE EASTER BUNNY**

**PERCY**

"How are you alive?" I asked while hugging my cousin. Nico shrugged.

"Seems like Leo's little trick with the flames did more than we thought. They're like highly flammable. The fire just kept spreading and I only had to take out a few. It's great. I've literally been lighting them on fire with a lighter and they just run close to other flesh eaters and drop dead. Best weapon ever." Nico said.

"Well a lot of stuff just went down. Anyone want to comment?" I asked.

"My best friend just died, Percy. I'm not in a joking mood." Annabeth said. I hugged her into my chest.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It's not your fault." Annabeth pulled away. "You need to spill about our parents and this island though."

"Yea, that's a conversation for later. We have other things to deal with. Go make sure that Zoe is okay. I'm going to have a chat with Ethan." I walked out of the warehouse to see Will frantically trying to patch up Zoe and the others helping him in anyway. Piper stood with a frightened Juliet by the cars. I walked over to Fisher who was keeping watch over Ethan. "Fisher, go see how Reyna's doing. Ethan and I are going back inside." I dragged Ethan into the warehouse and tied him to a chair. Nico and I stood in front of Ethan. I whispered something to Nico and Nico left to do as I asked, leaving me alone with Ethan. I slapped Ethan hard to wake him up. Ethan looked around in confusion before his memory returned and the look changed to one of fear. He quickly tried to cover it up with a cool expression.

"What are you going to do to me?" Ethan asked. I pulled up a chair and sat across from him.

"That all depends on how Zoe is. Don't get me wrong, Ethan. Today is your last day on Earth. The severity of your punishment will be determined by Zoe's state." I said.

"I stabbed her through the chest. There's no way she will survive that." I stared Ethan right in the eyes.

"You're underestimating two things. How strong Zoe is and how amazing Will is." I leaned back in my chair. "I just want you to know, if Zoe dies, you will beg me to kill you." I left Ethan and walked into Annabeth as I was about exit. "Is Zoe okay?" Annabeth shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Percy. Will tried. He really did. We just don't have the necessary equipment to help her." I turned around wordlessly and grabbed Ethan. I dragged him outside. The others watched but did not speak as I pulled Ethan over to a tree.

"If you're going to kill me just do it already." Ethan pleaded. I grabbed some rope out of the car and tied it tightly around Ethan's legs.

"Is it ready, Nico?" I asked. Nico and Jason dropped the shovels they were using to dig a deep hole next to the tree.

"It's ready." Nico said. I threw the end of the rope over a sturdy branch. Jason, Nico, and I pulled on the rope until Ethan was dangling upside down over a seven foot pit. We threw some wood into the pit and started a fire.

"What are you doing to me?" Ethan demanded.

"We're giving you a choice." I said. I handed Ethan a knife.

"What."

"There's a nice fire burning underneath you right now. If you cut yourself down, you fall into the pit and burn to death. If you stay hanging, either you will die of dehydration or zombies will eat you alive. It's your choice. This is your punishment." Ethan yelled insults and screamed as we walked away. I jumped in the driver seat in one of the cars with Annabeth in the passenger seat. Jason, Piper, and Nico sat in the back of the car. Fisher drove the other car with Reyna in the passenger seat and Will and Juliet in the back. We started the cars and were on our way to our new home.

"Where are we going?" Annabeth asked.

"Fisher and I agreed to go to my dad's house. They're the only other survivors and that's where they were staying so we might as well." I explained.

"Good point. I believe you still owe us an explanation about our parents."

"Okay, listen up." I addressed everyone in the car. All of us are the children of an Olympian. Our parents were the most powerful people in the world and we were expecting to take over for them if they died. Half-Blood Island is an emergency sanctuary in case of a world crisis so that the most important people could be safe." Everyone was very interested in what I was saying. "As of now, there are ten people alive in the world. The five of us, Fisher, Juliet, Reyna, Will, and Chiron. Chiron lives on the island and is in charge of shaping us into our parents if we ever needed to go there."

"Why didn't any of our parents go there then?" Piper asked.

"That's the thing, they did go. They just didn't make it. I'm trying to figure out why."

"I think I know. You see, Percy and I are the only ones that know about our parents being Olympians. My theory is that all their planes went down." Nico said.

"That would make sense. This apocalyptic air must have caused engine failure and the planes went down. If we want to go there, then we need a boat." I said.

"So, who are our parents?" Jason asked.

"Out of the people alive, Jason is the son of Zeus, Annabeth daughter of Athena, Piper daughter of Aphrodite, Reyna daughter of Bellona, Will son of Apollo, Nico son of Hades, Fisher, Jules and I children of Poseidon."

"We are going to regroup at the house, get some supplies and then head for the island." Nico said. We pulled in to my dad's driveway. We all entered the house and headed straight for the basement. I headed for a secret door on my dad's wall. Large steel doors slid open revealing everything we would need to survive. Fisher looked around in shock.

"I've literally leaned on the door to this room and never even knew it was here." Fisher said. Juliet walked over to my side.

"You know, today is Easter." Juliet said. Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing and look down as if remembering all the normal Easters that they had. Nico came to Juliet's side.

"Well, luckily for you, I grabbed something on the way home." Nico said and grabbed an egg painting kit out of his bag. Juliet's smile lit up the room. Juliet tackled Nico in a hug.

"Thank you, Nico."

"Anytime, kid." Juliet grabbed Piper's hand and the two started painting eggs together. I sat down at a table in the corner of the room. I looked around at all my friends. Despite the racks of swords and other weapons, it seemed almost normal. Jason watched with a smile on his face as Piper and Juliet painted eggs. Reyna and Fisher talked silently in the corner of the room. Nico was taking inventory on the weapons. Nico's father, Hades, was the main man when it came to building weapons. I kind of felt bad that Nico had to grow up with all this information on weapons and military operations. Nico seemed happy though and that's all I could ask for. Will was setting up a makeshift medical center in another corner. Even Will, to some extent, got to take care of people. Annabeth sat down next to me.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked.

"I don't know. I think that if we can get to the island then things might be okay. We could have a life together and have a shot at being normal" I said. Annabeth kissed me.

"Hey, Juliet. I think that the Easter bunny hid some eggs in this room." Nico said. Juliet jumped up excitedly and began searching the small room for eggs. Annabeth leaned on my shoulder.

"Yea, I think we're going to be just fine."


	10. Chapter 10

**ROAD TRIP**

**ANNABETH**

We were all preparing to leave the safety of the bunker. The plan was to get on Percy and Fisher's luxury yacht and get to the island by boat. I strapped my bronze knife to my leg and observed all my friends. Everyone was gearing up for the next obstacle we would face. Percy told us to be armed like soldiers for where we were headed. Percy, Nico, and Jason were twirling their usual swords. Fisher had a sword in each hand, a special talent his dad had taught him. Will was armed with a bow and a quiver full of different arrows. Piper and Reyna also were holding long knives. Juliet was carrying a small bag with some useful supplies for later. Reyna, Piper and I were carrying most of our supplies and the guys were going to guard us. Percy stood up on a table.

"Half-Blood Island is the only safe place left for us." Percy said. "We are going to get our boat and get to the island."

"Where is this luxury yacht of yours at?" I asked.

"Florida."

"Florida?"

"Yea, Florida."

"How are we going to get to Florida?"

"With these." Percy pulled out some keys for everyone to see. He pointed towards one of them. "The keys to the ship and our ride down there." Percy indicated for us to follow him. We emerged from the basement and headed towards the garage. There were two nice cars parked inside.

"Nice." Will commented.

"We're not driving these." Percy said. Percy, Nico, Jason, and Fisher pushed the two cars to sides of the garage. Percy hit a button and a large circle in the middle of the floor opened up. An amazing armored truck slowly rose until it was sitting in the middle of the garage.

"Way better." Will said. The inside of the vehicle was big enough to fit a driver and two passengers at the most. The back of the truck was the best part. There were two benches on both sides for people to sit on. There were two mounted machine guns with chairs for the gunners and a chest stocked with extra ammo.

"Don't be afraid to fire away." Percy said. "We have enough ammo for a life time."

"Can I drive?" Fisher asked. Percy threw him the keys.

"Go nuts. Just don't crash when there are no other cars on the road."

"It's going to be a long ride. Get comfortable." Fisher told everyone.

Fisher jumped in the driver's seat and Reyna slid into the passenger side. Juliet sat between them in the comfort of the vehicle. Will and Nico raced to claim their spots on the machine guns. Piper and I sat next to each other on one bench directly across from Percy and Jason. Fisher started the car and we were on our way to Florida. It was silent for the most part as we drove through New York. A horde of zombies would follow the truck only to be left behind. Nico and Will began playing a game to see who could get more kills. Jason, Piper, Percy and I started a conversation.

"Is this really the world we live in? Where two guys are keeping score of who kills more people. Do you really think there will ever be a normal again?" Piper asked.

"I do think there will be. If we can get to this island, than we can escape all of this. We could live our lives without fear. Our children could grow up without even knowing that this ever happened." Jason said.

"We would give them gray crayons when we ask them to draw the sky." I joked.

"We would have to educate them. Could you imagine us teaching kids practical skills?" Jason said.

"Nothing is ever going to be the same." Piper said sadly. Percy shook his head.

"I can't believe that." Percy said. "You don't understand. This island that we're going to was built by the richest people in the world. Half-Blood Island isn't Hawaii, okay? It's heaven." Percy paused to let us picture this place. "The island has enough food that we could feed ten billion people a different meal every day for a year. The medical equipment is so advanced that Will is going to have a hard time figuring it out. You cannot imagine what this place looks like because nothing has ever been made that's so incredible." Everyone listening, including Nico and Will, seemed to perk up at that.

"So, you think things can go back to how they were?" Piper asked.

"No, they can't." Percy replied. "Things can be better." I smiled. "Imagine everything that was wrong with this world was wiped out. There would be no diseases, no war; our little world would be at peace. Over time, it could be better than it was. Everyone would speak the same language. Everyone would learn to survive and it's our job to prepare them for that."

"Spoken like a true leader, Perce." Will said.

"Thanks Will. Now, let's have some fun." Percy stood up along with Jason. They both unsheathed their swords and stood on one side of the truck, opposite from us. Percy tapped on the glass, getting Reyna's attention. "Take us closer to the side." Fisher pulled over to the side so that the wheels were just on the road. As the truck passed zombies, Jason and Percy would take off their heads like some teenagers would do to mailboxes. Everyone laughed and enjoyed themselves, trying to block out the fact that there were flesh eating monsters surrounding us. After a day's worth of driving, Fisher pulled over and stepped out of the car. It was around midnight when Fisher decided to get some rest.

"Someone's going to have to take over for me." Fisher said. Of course, Percy volunteered. Reyna grabbed some blankets for everyone as Percy jumped in the driver's seat. Fisher and Jason were in similar positions, leaning against the wall of the truck. Reyna and Piper used their respective boyfriends as pillows. Juliet fell asleep in the front. Will decided to get some rest too but Nico, the night owl, was alert and stared off in the distance looking for trouble. I decided to join Percy in the front. Percy started up the car and Juliet shifted, leaning on Percy. Percy smiled as I climbed in the passenger seat.

"Annabeth, you should get some rest." Percy said.

"No, it's fine. I'd rather stay up with you. Besides, it's dangerous to drive alone when you're tired." I replied.

"Don't you think most driving rules have gone out the window?"

"I like to pretend that they haven't." Percy got quiet after that. Juliet shifted again so that she was now using me as a pillow. We drove for a little before I asked Percy a serious question. "What do you think the future will really be like?" Percy glanced at me.

"What do I think it will be like or what do I hope it will be like?"

"How about both?"

"Well, I hope that we can get to the island. I hope that the nine of us can be happy, maybe have children later. I hope that they can grow up and Will can teach them how to be a doctor, Nico can teach them how to hunt, Fisher can teach them how to fish." I laughed. "What's so funny?"

"Fisher the fisherman." I said. Percy laughed.

"Yea, dad really loved the sea." Percy got serious again. "What do I think is going to happen? Honestly? I think that we are going to reach Florida. I also think that some of us will die along the way. But there's one thing I know."

"What's that?"

"Thalia, Zoe, Grover, Juniper, Beckendorf, Silena, Leo, Frank, Hazel, we were with them when they all died. I know that everyone is getting sick of watching their loved ones die. I know that there are only nine of us left and I know that if we lose even one person, then it will tear us apart. It will tear me apart."

"I know what you mean. We're coming down to the end. Either we all make it through or none of us will."

"It's one thing to lose some of your closest friends. It kills you. But if you lose your family, it destroys you." He paused. "That's the problem. You're all my family and I can't sit around and watch my family die. I won't."

"You won't have to. We will all make it through this. We will get to that island paradise and our kids will grow up happily. We can be together. It won't be easy but we're so close and we've come so far." I kissed Percy, careful not to disturb Juliet. Percy pulled over on the side of a hill. I follow Percy out of the car and we walked to the top of the hill. The hill was a cliff with a view of the bay and the thousands of infected milling around. I held Percy's hand as we stared down, out of sight, at the flesh eaters that stood between us and Percy's yacht. Percy pulled me close to him.

"Welcome to Florida."

** I just wanted to thank everyone who has stayed with this story so far. A lot of the comments that I've gotten have been positive and they really mean a lot so thank you. I also wanted to say that this story is obviously coming to an end and I have two possible endings in mind. There is a somewhat sad ending and then there is a happy one so I will let you decide which would be best for the story. I'm considering writing one ending and then having an alternate one if that would be better. Thanks.**

** -Imagine Dragonov**


	11. Chapter 11

**FIGHT OR FLIGHT**

**PERCY**

"I'm just going to say it right now. This is going to be the hardest thing we've had to do yet." I said as everyone rose from their slumber for the final battle. "I honestly don't see all of us making it out of this alive." I pointed to the boat. "That ship is a one way ticket to the most amazing place on the planet. There are roughly three thousand flesh eaters that stand between us and it. Unfortunately, the only way that we make it there is to kill every one of them. Are you ready?"

"No." Will said.

"Good. You shouldn't be."

"You guys are the best friends that I could ever hope to have." Piper said with tears in her eyes.

"This isn't goodbye, Piper. We're going to make it through this. I have a plan." Annabeth said drawing everyone's attention. "We defend the hill. We have the cliff to our backs so they can only come from one direction. We also have the higher ground." Annabeth explained the rest of the plan to us. Everyone looked to me for conformation.

"Let's do it." Everyone got to work with the supplies we had stocked in the truck. Jason and Will started setting up large spikes defending the cliff. The zombies would walk into them and be impaled. Annabeth and Reyna got to work setting a wall of flames in front of the spikes to kill off most of the infected. Nico was working on our emergency escape plan as usual. I walked around the truck to find Fisher. I found him hiding something under his shirt.

"Fisher? What's that?" I asked.

"Uh, just some armor, for underneath my clothes." He replied. I moved on without questioning it. I sat down next to Juliet on the cliff, overlooking the bay.

"Jules? You okay?" I asked. She started crying.

"No." She replied.

"I don't blame you."

"I'm scared."

"I know. I am too."

"You are?"

"Yea, but I know that we're going to make it out of here. I promise." She held out her pinky.

"Pinky promise?" I wrapped my finger around hers.

"Pinky promise." I assured her. Annabeth sat down next to me.

"We're ready." She said. I stood up and looked around at our defenses. There was a steady wall of flames surrounding the hill. Large wooden stakes stuck out to take down those who made it past the fire. The truck was pulled up to the top of cliff where we would stand. Nico and Will were on their turrets waiting for movement. Juliet sat behind the car covering her ears. The rest of us stood on or around the truck armed with guns and swords. I decided to say some last words to the group.

"A few days ago, I would have said never to use a car and never to use guns. I would have said that we need to kill as little people as possible because they need to be saved. Here we are. We can't save anyone but ourselves. We need to take out as many of these things as possible. We need to win for the survival of mankind and the extermination of this virus. Let's get this over with." I said.

"Hey, where did this virus come from anyway?" Piper asked. Everyone seemed to stop and think about that.

"I actually have no idea." I said.

"Yea, it just kind of happened." Jason agreed. The first few zombies broke through and the gunshots rang out through the darkness. Never ending waves of infected people broke through the flames. Some burned to death on the spot. Some got far enough that they were shot down by one of the many guns. They just kept coming and we kept killing. The body count was reaching the point where the flesh eaters struggled to get past other fallen corpses. The docks were clearing out as all the zombies were trying to get to us. Their numbers were quickly falling and I heard a cheer as more and more struggled to get through. Then the worst possible thing happened. It started to rain.

"No! The fire!" Jason yelled. The flames quickly died and the army of flesh eaters was concealed in darkness. Time seemed to stop as everyone looked to me for our next move. I looked down to the docks which were no clear with the exception of a few stragglers.

"Nico! Let's get them to the ship!" I yelled. Nico tossed three long ropes over the cliff.

"Women and children first." Nico said jokingly at a horrible time. Annabeth quickly kissed me and headed down one of the ropes with Juliet and Piper. Will and Nico were now firing away blindly into the darkness from their mounted machine guns. Jason, Fisher, and I were now firing away and slashing anything that got to close. Reyna had frozen by my side as she stared at one of the zombies.

"Reyna? What's wrong?" I asked.

"Hylla." She said with tears in her eyes. She dropped her gun and walked towards the zombie.

"Reyna! What are you doing?" She ignored me and kept walking.

"Hylla, it's me. I know that you're in there somewhere. You need to fight it." Hylla looked like she was in a trance but quickly sunk your teeth into Reyna's shoulder. I didn't hesitate to put a bullet in Hylla's head. Fisher rushed over and pulled Reyna towards the end of the cliff.

"Will, Nico, Jason! Go!" I commanded. The three of them hesitantly headed down the ropes. Reyna lay, bleeding out, on Fisher's leg. Fisher looked down at her with tears in his eyes. I jumped on one of the machine guns and never let go of the trigger. Bodies dropped as quickly as they appeared. Fisher just remained motionless, just talking to Reyna as she slowly bled out. As soon as there was a lull in the attack I jumped off the turret and went to Fisher. "Fisher, we have to go." He didn't respond. "We need to go now!" He looked up at me.

"There are too many. They'll catch us." He said.

"We're going to have to take that risk." I said.

"Not if I can slow them down." Fisher took off his shirt revealing what he had been hiding before, a bomb.

"No, not an option."

"Percy, just listen. What did you think I was going to do for the rest of my life? I finally had a possible future with Reyna and she's bleeding out before me. I'm not important anymore."

"Yes, you are."

"Percy, I don't want you mad at me for my final seconds on earth. I love you, bro. Tell my nephew or niece that they had the best Uncle Fisher in the world." I hugged him one last time. "You and Annabeth have a future. Don't let that slip away." The horde of zombies closed in around us. I ran toward the edge of cliff and leaped over in time to see Fisher kiss Reyna and push the button. The explosion sent me flying towards the water. I landed hard on the surface, right next to the boat. Jason pulled me aboard and I threw Nico the keys.

"Where are Fisher and Reyna?" Juliet asked. I clutched my leg, which I'm pretty sure was broken. I looked around at all my friends faces.

"They didn't make it." Everyone dropped their heads and Nico started the boat. The ship headed out into the sea leaving an angry horde of flesh eaters in its wake.

"I'm sorry about your brother." Annabeth said. I let a tear slip away but I tried to cover it up.

"At least he went out with a bang."


	12. Chapter 12

**GOODBYE**

**PERCY**

Will put my broken leg in a splint and wrapped it up very professionally with what little supplies we had left. The water was completely calm during the voyage. Nico drove while the rest of us sat in silence. Nico docked the ship on the island and we all stepped out onto the perfect white beach. As sad as we were, we couldn't help but stare in awe at the island. There were twelve massive beach houses forming a U shape around the island. In the middle was a town with everything a functioning society could ever need. We walked slowly through the town, observing our new home.

"This place is amazing." Annabeth said.

"I told you. This place is Elysium." I said. Annabeth leaned her head on my shoulder as we walked. As amazing as the island was, it was a ghost town. We knew that we would be the only ones here but it was still kind of depressing.

"It's too bad the others never got to see this." Piper commented.

"Never say never, Piper." A new voice said we all turned around to see a girl with red hair who seemed to appear out of thin air.

"Who are you?" Percy asked. Percy had his weapon drawn.

"Perseus Jackson put your sword down right now." Percy lowered his sword.

"How do you know my name? Where's Chiron?"

"I'm afraid Chiron did not survive. You see, I am the one who has been waiting for you on this island."

"Well, who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Rachel Elizabeth Dare." She responded.

"How are you here?"

"My father is a very important person. I was sent to guide you."

"Who's your father? Zeus?" Percy asked.

"God."

"I'm sorry. Did you just say God?" She nodded.

"Yes, I am an angel of the lord."

"An angel? Really?"

"Yes, Perseus. Really."

"Prove it, and stop calling me Perseus." A glistening ring of light appeared above Rachel's head and wings whiter than snow erupted from her back. She floated slightly off the ground and seemed to emit some sort of light. "Okay, so you're an angel. I'm not even surprised anymore."

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"To give you your results." She responded.

"Results from what?" Jason asked.

"From your test, of course, Jason Grace."

"I don't remember taking a test." Rachel laughed a, literally, angelic laugh.

"The apocalypse was you test."

"The apocalypse was our test?" Percy repeated. "You mean the virus…that was you?"

"Well not me specifically, but it was sent from heaven so…" She left it trailing.

"You exterminated over 6 billion people to test us?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Your people are truly barbaric." Rachel said in a surprisingly angry tone. "You don't understand what a gift it is just to be alive and yet you kill and pollute and destroy your home. My father is upset to put it bluntly."

"Then why not just kill everyone? Why are we being tested?" Percy asked.

"Because you must start over. The infection, when it began, it only affected those who have truly evil intentions. The worst of the worst. Once the virus hit it was up to you as a planet to figure out a way to survive. That was your test. Unfortunately, there are so many language barriers worldwide and other problems that you were not able to handle the virus." She paused and stood in front of Percy. "Perseus Jackson, your leadership skills are commendable. You care about all your people and you are a natural leader. That's why you shall lead the new world. All of you are pure of soul and have the will to survive and that's why you have been given a second chance." She walked in front of me. "Annabeth Chase, it was no coincidence that you stumbled upon the others. It is not coincidence that you are all sixteen."

"Why am I here?" Juliet asked. "I'm not sixteen." She stepped in front of Juliet.

"Juliet Jackson, you had a larger impact than you know. You were something that your friends and family needed to fight for. You inspired them to survive." She took a step back. "The rest of you are an example of a perfect generation and you will usher in a new world. Imagine a world where everyone spoke the same language and there was only peace. A world where Will can spend his life healing people and doing what he loves. A world where Juliet can grow up without fear. A perfect world. That is your task."

"Okay, this is going to sound weird and I hate to kill the dramatic vibe and everything but there are only seven of us. How can you expect us to, you know, repopulate?" Will asked awkwardly.

"There will not be seven of you. There were more people in this test. Everyone who met this group at one point was part of it. Fisher gave his life giving you a few precious seconds. He will be brought back. Zoe gave her life protecting Percy's. She will be brought back. So will many of your friends."

"How many?" I asked.

"Well, let's see. There was Fisher and Zoe, of course. Silena and Beckendorf will be brought back. They died for the group."

"Wait. I don't want to sound bad by saying this. Silena was an extremely close friend, but isn't killing yourself like a huge offense?" Percy asked.

"Yea and I killed Luke and we might as well have killed Ethan. Thou shall not murder. Aren't we just screwing up big time here?" Nico asked.

"You can't picture me as a perfect, do everything right, angel. Angels are the warriors of heaven. Silena killed herself because she couldn't bear to be without her love. Luke and Ethan strayed from the group. They were an unforeseen obstacle and they failed because of it. The new world will be carried out by the seven of you, Silena, Beckendorf, Fisher, Reyna, Thalia, Zoe, Grover, and Juniper. The fifteen of you will be the new age, a better age. Good luck." Rachel said.

"Wait, what about Luke, Leo, Frank, Hazel, the others? What about them?" I asked.

"Well, you see this place. Have you ever seen a place more beautiful and perfect?" Rachel asked.

"No." I answered truthfully.

"Well, I have. It's called heaven. It's where your friends are right now. You don't want to strip them away." Everyone smiled at the thought of our friends in heaven. "Annabeth, I'm going to be honest with you and you're not going to like what I have to say."

"What is it?"

"You mentioned Luke. I'm sorry to tell you this, but Luke was easily manipulated. I know he wasn't always a bad person but he was in the end." Tears rushed to my eyes and I leaned into Percy.

"What are you trying to say?" She gave me a sympathetic look.

"Luke is not in heaven. That is all I have to say." I cried into Percy's shirt. "On that note I will leave you. Good luck. The fate of the world rests in your hands now." Rachel ascended in a beam of light. Six more beams of light appeared and our friends materialized unconscious on the ground. Percy stepped forward on his now magically healed leg.

"What just happened?" Will asked. Percy looked at all of our faces and then at the island.

"I think we just survived the apocalypse."

**EPILOGUE **

Ten years have passed since we survived the end of the world. Annabeth and I were now married and twenty six years old. Annabeth gave birth to our first child last year. We named him Travis in honor of our good friend. At the same time, Jason and Piper had a boy who the named Connor. We all agreed to have kids at the same time. It was a little awkward but we know that at some point, they will have to be together. Grover and Juniper had two twin girls named Katie and Miranda. Silena and Beckendorf had a boy who they named Jake. Fisher and Reyna had a daughter who they named Hylla after Reyna's fallen sister. Thalia and Nico keep to themselves mostly. I think some of us thought that they would get together but I guess they both must have lost the one they truly cared about. Will has been on his own for a long time but I think Zoe is starting to warm up to him no matter how much she will deny it. Juliet grew up with no one her own age and it took a toll on her but she is strong and she will survive. Rachel has stopped by periodically to see how things are going. Overall, I would say that she is pleased. We all moved into a house and we are living like royalty but we've also set up the school and the hospital and we're preparing for the future. Everyone is happy. The apocalypse became a distant memory. The only thing that makes me sad is the look on Juliet's face. It's not fair to her. She will never be able to fall in love. The future people will know her as the last living person to experience the apocalypse. I stopped by Juliet's house one night to see how she was doing. Juliet sat on her back porch staring off into the waves. I took a seat next to her.

"How's it going Jules?" I asked. She smiled.

"You know you ask that question like every night right?" She responded.

"Yea, well, I guess I just like knowing that you're okay."

"I've just been thinking, Perce. I don't belong here."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean this group. I don't belong. You were all sixteen when it went down. The system was perfectly set up so that you would find your soul mate and pair up and rebuild the earth. I missed out on that."

"You're still family. We needed you and we still do."

"You don't need me."

"Yes, we do."

"Percy, let me ask you something." She said seriously. "Do you _remember the monsters?_" I took a breath.

"Every time I close my eyes." I responded.

"Yea, well, I don't. I was eight. You made me hide and cover my ears. It's like this whole life changing thing that everyone went through…I wasn't part of it."

"What do you remember?"

"I remember Fisher and me rushing to dad's house when he called us. I remember him telling us to go in his basement and lock the door until he came for us. I remember him never coming for us." She paused for a second. "I remember Fisher leaving me for the first time and being scared of every sound. I remember you coming and how happy I was. I remember us escaping and then we were here. I remember growing up and barely having a life."

"I'm sorry that you feel that way. You were very important. You were our…"

"…inspiration. I know. Everyone keeps saying that. I wasn't your inspiration though. Annabeth was. I was someone you felt obligated to keep alive."

"Don't say that, Jules. You know how much I care about you."

"I know, Percy but I talked to Rachel and she explained everything to me."

"What did she tell you?"

"I'm leaving."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going to heaven. Rachel said that I'm going to be an angel. That we're all going to be angels."

"When are you going?" I asked.

"Now." Rachel said as she appeared behind me. "We will see you later, Percy. Just remember, the world has you to thank." My sister and an angel disappeared into the air. I laid back on a recliner sitting on Juliet's porch. Somehow, seeing my sister go didn't bother me. She was going someplace better. I spoke to myself in the cool air but pretended that Juliet could hear my message.

"Jules, I'm glad. I'm really happy for you. I hope you never remember because I do. It was the scariest thing I've ever went through." I stared out at the beach where our yacht, Anaklusmos, was still docked.

"I remember the monsters."


End file.
